These days, all Kevin Costner wants to do is solemnly ride horses into the sunset, sometimes with a giant hat. He’s about to release his passion project, Horizon: An American Saga, which helped land him on PEOPLE‘s 100 Reasons To Love America list, an annual list you probably haven’t been keeping tabs on. But what’s more American than a moderate-to-severe feud between a Texas native and the star of Sizzle Beach, USA?
Ever since Costner left Yellowstone, he has been attempting to set the record straight on really went down. But Taylor Sheridan seemed to remember the situation differently, and shifted some blame onto Costner’s Horizon schedule. Costner is “disappointed” at how it all unfolded. All he wants is to ride in peace!
Costner told PEOPLE, “I loved the show. I liked the people on the show. I liked what it was about. I love that world,” he said. So when reports surfaced that there were disagreements, he felt “disappointed” when no one came to his defense.
“I read all the stories,” he said. “I was disappointed that nobody on their side… ever stepped up to defend what it was I actually did for them. There came a moment where I thought, ‘Wow, when is somebody going to say something about what I have done versus what I haven’t done?'” At the time, a Paramount Network spokesperson told Deadline: “We have no news to report. Kevin Costner is a big part of Yellowstone and we hope that’s the case for a long time to come.”
Costner has spoken about his love for both the show and Sheridan in the past, even going so far as to admit that he was the one who pushed for more seasons early on, “When it was first pitched to me by Taylor [Sheridan] it was one season and [like] a long movie, which [is] speaking my language… but ultimately, I think what happened was the studio didn’t want that,” he says. “And because he’s such a prolific writer, he said, ‘I can do that. I can make a series that goes on.'” He initially signed on for three seasons but ended up doing five. That is until an extended break. “There was a moment where that show for me stopped for 14 months… That’s the fact. I could have done a lot of things in that time, but I wasn’t aware that that [hold-up] was going to happen.” This is what ultimately led to his exit.
But all hope isn’t lost. Costner says that if we can work it out, he would be open to returning. “It might be an interesting moment to come back and finish the mythology of this modern-day family,” he says. “And if that happens, I would step into it if I agreed with how it was being done.” He added, “In the very end, I couldn’t do any more for it than I had already done.”
Somehow, it seems unlikely that Sheridan will want to mend the friendship. He’s a busy guy.
